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In 1975...

6,235 Views | 40 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by sunchaser
sunchaser
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...I bought a 20' Seacraft CC with a 140hp Johnson. At that time a really big outboard center console was 23-24.' It was an outstanding bay boat as well as a combo off shore boat. We routinely went offshore 40 miles or so when we had to use a small transistor radio for directional help. Loran C showed up and on good days we might buddy boat in the 60-80 mile range. I ultimately replaced the engine with a 200 hp Johnson and two years later upgraded to a 235 Johnson due to some warranty issues.

My three kids were given the responsibility of naming the boat and came up with "Sunchaser"....George the Boat came in 2nd. I think George was the three year olds stuffed monkey. Loran C was basically phased out in favor of GPS when we moved on to another "Sunchaser." We kept it and used it in the family for 25 years.



On Wednesday of this week my youngest and I left Port A headed over to hook up with a fly fishing guide in Aransas Pass. We stopped at the Valero Station and he headed in to get us our traditional breakfast snack on a fishing day of Reese cups. He turned and motioned to me about half way to the door. Low and behold after 42 years she is still in service. A very happy menhaden bait guy. He did say the thru hull fittings were leaking quite a bit.



She was a good boat. I wish Rufneck would have found her.

In spite of three big reds on flies on a very windy day she was the highlight.



Salt of the water
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Very cool to be reacquainted with the namesake.

I always hear wonderful things about those old Potter hulls. I think they still look great and have timeless lines.
FIDO 96
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tx4guns
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That's awesome.
ursusguy
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BCO07
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bam02
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Very cool
aggieband 83
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Good Bull
CEPhD
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dannyag07
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One of the best posts I've seen in a while!
Centerpole90
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So, uh, you want to share some of those Loran TD's there old timer?

(5000 internet points for anyone under 40 who has any idea what a Loran TD is without googling it)
Mowdy Ag
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DDSO
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Tony Franklins Other Shoe
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Man, that story is so Port A/Aransas Pass.

Congrats on the nostalgia, very cool.
sunchaser
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I probably still have some laminated cards somewhere. I've thought about what I did out of the boat after I saw it. The offshore maps that had rocks etc like Baker, Big Southern, Hospital ended about 40 miles offshore. I don't remember where the radio stations where....I think one was in N Carolina or somewhere on the East Coast. It always surprised me that one was in Raymondville.....never saw that one.

Loran was an awesome tool. To be able to go straight to a reef or home electronically was special in that you didn't have to spend all day wondering where the hell you where.

I still have it stuck in a bookcase in my study.

A Chartplotter is like stealing.
ccard257
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Snow Monkey Ambassador
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Best post in a long time!
Courtesy Flush
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That is really cool Sunchaser. I would love to come across some of my old boats. Particularly, I had a 1971 Mako 22. It had twin 88HP Envinrudes on it and was a very awesome boat. I was not the original owner, but we had it for 10 years or so in the 80's and 90's. I was a student at A&M at the time and named the boat Gaff 'em. I also had a 1989 Mako 261 that we sold about 15 years ago. We sold it through Chris Mapp at Coastal Bend in Port O'Connor and my understanding is that some research outfit bought it. They were going to put a 4 stroke on one side and keep one of the 200HP Yamaha carbureted 2-strokes on the other and then compare the fuel burn. It was named Play Deep when we sold it.

Seacrafts were very popular back in the 70's and 80's. I grew up in El Campo and it seemed like many of the rice farmers around there had them. I grew up admiring them and that is what inspired me to rebuild my current project boat.

I'm sure that menhaden hand would make you a good deal on that boat. You should buy it from him and drop it off at Transport in Palacios for restoration and tell Donny to call you when it's ready to be picked up .
Centerpole90
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They finally hauled off the Raymondville tower last year for scrap. It was obviously out of service for a long time and Dolly brought most of it down in 2008. So there it sat, about half it's height, for 8 years before the Coast Guard hired contractor to dismantle it and mitigate the site. A buddy of mine did some of the hauling and the said the contractor offered him the 1,000 or more of diesel that was stored there for the backup generators.

http://www.loran-history.info/raymondville/raymondville.htm

Does this man now live inside my Garmin handheld?
EskimoJoe
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Centerpole90 said:

So, uh, you want to share some of those Loran TD's there old timer?

(5000 internet points for anyone under 40 who has any idea what a Loran TD is without googling it)


Old school navigation bro!
ENG
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great post
PorkEatingCrusader
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Centerpole90 said:

So, uh, you want to share some of those Loran TD's there old timer?

(5000 internet points for anyone under 40 who has any idea what a Loran TD is without googling it)
In the Coast Guard, so we had to know it even though it was almost dead when I went in.
RK
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1. That's an awesome story

2. I hope you are wearing longer shorts these days
Aggielandma12
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Nice, was the feeling akin to seeing a girl you dated in High school?
tx4guns
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What, rode wet, less pretty, leaking, yet still functional?

Aggielandma12 said:

Nice, was the feeling akin to seeing a girl you dated in High school?
The Wonderer
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Centerpole90 said:

So, uh, you want to share some of those Loran TD's there old timer?

(5000 internet points for anyone under 40 who has any idea what a Loran TD is without googling it)
Had Loran on the family CC bay boat growing up. I finally replaced it with GPS in 2008 when I pulled it out of storage and dragged to Jacksonville, FL when I moved for law school. Had a few older fisherman at the docks ask questions about my Loran antenna considering everyone on my boat was under 26 at the time.

Fun times.
Lance in Round Mountain
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Man, this is a great story. Thanks for sharing.
Aggielandma12
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kinda what I was thinking...would be fun to take a ride for old times sake.
The Wonderer
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tx4guns said:

What, rode wet, less pretty, leaking, yet still functional?

Aggielandma12 said:

Nice, was the feeling akin to seeing a girl you dated in High school?

Nostalgia makes you do dumb things sometimes..
TRIDENT
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sunchaser
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Thanks CP....you keep as much crap as I do.

If I had been asked I would have said there were 5-8 Loran Stations. That is a really long list. I remembered one in North Carolina(Caroline)....I would have said there was one in Arizona. That was probably Las Cruces. One in Florida...probably Jupiter and one way the hell off as in Gillette. The one in Louisiana never seemed to be effective.

The first Loran I saw in a boat was about the size of a console radio that people listened to the President's fire side chat on. They got "boat small" really quick.

It would be worthless to me now as I remember very little. I believe 1-8 on the right side was for 8 TD's to be stored. You could go from 1..say Port A to 2...say Big Southern. It would calculate the straight line path and you headed out via a compass. You could tell the direction and magnitude of the deviation off that line. Once you arrived the screen went 9999999. They were very accurate as those rocks are not that big.



First day for the family in the boat. Wish I still had the hat.



SPI....#51 shark. Aggie grad....father of two



SPI....kingfish. Aggie grad....mother of three



Port A....#52 ling on 14# test...Aggie grad...father of two.

Aggielandma12
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always gig em
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CapCity12thMan
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that first pic looks like the dude in blue shorts is some hostage you are taking out to sea, holding his arm behind his back.
Apache
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Good Bull raising 3 Ags sunchaser.... very well done!
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